The Indian, the Indian and the sort of Indian

Portuguese Mistake


When the Portuguese came
In a heavy rain
He dressed the Indian.
Pity!
If it had been a sunny morning
The Indian would have stripped
The Portuguese.

-Oswald de Andrade (translation by Régis Bonvicino and Douglas Messerli)

***

The important thing is not to forget that, in the final analysis, our students must gain dominion over the foreign language for their own good and to become more able to face the new challenges the world puts in their paths. It is they that have to dominate the English language, never letting the English language dominate them.

-Kanavillil Rajagopalan (my translation)

***

You gave me language, and my profit on't
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!

-Caliban, from William Shakespeare's The Tempest